Ginseng, you win the Uri Geller Mind-reading prize–that was the original intent. It actually makes me very happy to see (at least) two different other interpretations, for 2 reasons. One, it makes the poem more abstract and less concrete (my verses trend very concrete); two, it suggests that the harassment issue is not the only thing on people’s minds. It’s big, but if my brilliant readers aren’t seeing it everywhere, that’s probably a good thing. Um… even though it’s pretty much everywhere. So maybe I shouldn’t be so happy.

Darn, I wish I had thought of it as more generic. Unfortunately, there have been so many news stories in our area (Pinellas County, Florida) of poisonous smelling water (and government denial) and actual poisoned groundwater that I assumed it was based on a news item from here.